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BULLETIN OF THE HARTFORD POWER SQUADRON

A UNIT OF DISTRICT

UNITED STATES POWER SQUADRONS®

Volume 79, Issue 2 – September 2017

FALL EVENTS AND EDUCATION SCHEDULE

Schedule of Upcoming Squadron Activities Page

12 September Executive Committee Meeting – “Bridge and general membership welcome” – MDC

26 September Members’ Meeting – “The Realities of New England Hurricanes”

Olympia Diner, 3413 Berlin Turnpike, Newington, CT

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10 October Executive Committee Meeting – “Bridge and general membership welcome” – MDC

24 October Members’ Meeting – “A talk by George Gilbert on beautiful New Zealand”

Olympia Diner, 3413 Berlin Turnpike, Newington, CT

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14 November Executive Committee Meeting – “Bridge and general membership welcome” – MDC

12 December Executive Committee Meeting – “Bridge and general membership welcome” – MDC

09 January Executive Committee Meeting – “Bridge and general membership welcome” – MDC

23 January Members’ Meeting – “Topic to be determined.”

Olympia Diner, 3413 Berlin Turnpike, Newington, CT

08-11 February Hartford Boat Show

13 February Executive Committee Meeting – “Bridge and general membership welcome” – MDC

Schedule of Upcoming District 1 Activities – For further details, see the current issue of Sounds of 1

17 September High Speed Ferry to Block Island Trip

20 October District Fall Council – Eversource Energy, 107 Selden St, Berlin, CT

11 November District Fall Conference – Groton Inn & Suites, 99 Gold Star Highway, Groton, CT

16 December District Christmas Party (Date is tentative and still being determined.)

Casa Mia at the Hawthorne, 2421 Berlin Turnpike, Newington, CT

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Also in this Issue

At the Helm – P/D/C Patrick A. Pabouet, P 2

Spring Education Results 2

Fall Course Schedule 3

Two Year Course Schedule 3

Co-Op Charting 4

District Christmas Party 4

Fourth Annual Swap Meet 5

United States Power Squadrons®

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At the Helm Cdr Patrick A. Pabouet, P | (860) 528-7700 | argus06108@aol.com

As another boating season draws closer to an end, we still have time to enjoy warm summer weather on

the water. June gave us gray, rainy days, and cooler than normal temperatures no one expected. When July

arrived, so did summer days and nights. We all welcomed what we had been waiting for through the cold

months of winter and this year’s stalled summer. I hope everyone enjoyed the summer despite the

weather surprises. In all, we did have many great weekends.

Our Squadron is now preparing for our USPS mode, our members’ meetings, and the startup of our Advanced Courses. Winter is a

good time to get involved in any of our activities and course offerings. All that we do to advance our knowledge and skill sets now

will better prepare us to be that much safer on the water in the summer seasons ahead.

We have lined up some great speakers for our members’ meetings. Our first program, New England Hurricanes, is a timely subject

and one that is important to understand. Please join us at this meeting and take away more knowledge about hurricanes than you

thought you already knew. The more you know, the safer you are, and one day the knowledge and skills you have amassed as a

Power Squadron member just might save your life and the lives of others.

I would like to invite you to get involved in our squadron. Perhaps this past summer you saw boaters that obviously did not know the

rules of boating, and you wished you could have done something about it. Well, you can! We need instructors to teach the ABC

course. Call Roy Bergeron or me and we will train you, get you certified and perhaps you can save someone from becoming a

statistic.

There is no better feeling than to have students thank you for your efforts and to say, “Wow, I didn’t know that boating was so much

more than just getting on the water. Now knowing the value of our courses, I will be signing up for more advanced courses”.

Enjoy what is left of the season, and I hope to see many of you at our members’ meetings.

Cdr Patrick A. Pabouet, P

Educational Department Lt/C Roy L. Bergeron, AP – Squadron Educational Officer | (860) 841-8620 | roybergeron01@yahoo.com

Spring Education Results

HPS Spring Education Results: We are pleased to report the following

students that passed our spring courses. In addition, those students that joined

the Hartford Power Squadron are indicated with an *. Please welcome them at

our Member’s Meetings.

Marine Electrical Systems - Roy Bergeron

23 February 2017 to 27 April 2017 Bill Waseleski

Dave Waseleski

John Sturtevant

Navigation – Stan Klein

Timothy Tyler

ABC - Jon Emerson

3 March 2017 to 4 May 2017

Louise M. Freedman*

Jean R. Rivard*

John W. Boullie*

William E. Eschert*

Janice D. Eschert*

Corina H. Andrews*

Joanne M. Paiano

HPS Commander Lands Largest Striper

Our own Commander won the trophy

for the largest striper in Norwich

Power Squadron’s 19th Annual

Fishing Derby held on Sunday July

9, 2017. The fish was 17” in length.

Hartford Power Squadron

the Bilge Pump – September 2017 Page 3 of 6 www.hartfordpowersquadron.com

Two Year Course Schedule Please use the two-year schedule below to plan your own education schedule. By working your way through the advanced grade courses, you

enhance your boating knowledge while making boating safer for yourself, your crew and other boaters cruising the waters with you.

Take the elective courses to fill in your expertise in specific areas such as Marine Electronics or Engine Maintenance.

Fall Course Schedule We have a great line up of courses for this fall. If you are interested in one of these classes, please contact Roy Bergeron to talk about it and/or to

sign up. Phone: (860) 841-8620 Email: roybergeron01@yahoo.com

Seamanship (S) begins 12 October at 1900 at St. James Episcopal Church, Farmington ($63 member, $158 new member)

This course provides more detail on many of the subjects covered in our basic “ABC3” course including rules of the road, navigation aids, using

your VHF radio, boat handling under adverse conditions, anchoring, additional knots, and additional first aid and safety. If you have just finished

“ABC3,” please try to take this course. New members that took Piloting last spring are also encouraged to take this course. If you signed up as a

new member last spring, you can take this course as a member.

Advanced Piloting (AP) begins 16 October at 1900 ($57) – The location for this course is still to be determined.

You must have passed the Piloting (P) course as a prerequisite. Advanced Piloting is the second in the sequence of USPS courses on navigation. It

continues to build coastal and inland navigation skill, allowing the student to take on more challenging conditions – unfamiliar waters, limited

visibility, and extended cruises. GPS is embraced as a primary navigation tool while adding radar, chartplotters, and other electronic navigation

tools. As with Piloting, the course includes many in-class exercises, advancing the student’s skills through hands-on practice and learning. Topics

covered include:

• Review of skills learned in Piloting

• Advanced positioning techniques such as advancing a line of position

• Other electronics: radar, depth sounders, autopilots, chartplotters, laptop computer software, etc.

• Hazard avoidance techniques using electronics (e.g., “keep out” zones in GPS)

• Collision avoidance using radar and GPS

• Working with tides: clearances, depth, effects of current

• Piloting with wind and currents

• The “Seaman’s Eye” – simple skills for checking that one is on course

Junior Navigation (JN) (Celestial Navigation Part 1) ($90 member) - The date/time and location of this course is still to be determined, but it is

expected it will start in late October.

In the Junior Navigation course, the student will learn to substitute celestial objects such as the sun as reference points. The course begins with the

study of celestial navigation, teaching the student to take sights on the sun with a marine sextant and derive a line of position from that observation.

Next, the student will apply the principles learned in Advanced Piloting, and plot a running fix from two sun sights taken about four hours apart.

Once the student has learned the basics of celestial sight reduction, the course continues with planning, positioning, and checking one’s position in

the offshore environment, using both electronic and celestial tools.

Weather (W) ($83 member/$158 New Member) This course is planned for October. Date/time and location to be determined.

The course focuses on how weather systems form, behave, move, and interact with one another and reflects the availability of all sorts of weather

reports and forecasts on the Internet. The student will learn how to use pressure measurements and cloud formations to predict future weather, how

to estimate wind speeds using the Beaufort scale and how to take precautions for emergency situations such as the gale force winds accompanying

thunderheads and the excessive wind speeds of hurricanes. Every mariner contemplating longer cruises should take this course.

Advanced

Grades

Fall

2017

Spring

2018

Fall

2018

Spring

2019

Fall

2019

Seamanship (S) X X X

Piloting (P) X X

Advanced

Piloting (AP)

X X X

Junior Navigation

(JN)

X X

Navigation (N) X

Electives Fall

2017

Spring

2018

Fall

2018

Spring

2019

Fall

2019

Marine Electrical

(MES)

X

Marine

Communication

(MCS)

X

Electronic

Navigation (EN)

X

Engine

Maintenance (EM)

X

Weather (W) X X

Sail (SA)

Cruise Planning

(CP)

X

United States Power Squadrons®

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June 10 Co-Op Charting Outing

This past spring, Hartford Squadron sponsored a CoOp Charting outing on the Connecticut River.

The Cooperative Charting Program of the United States Power Squadrons is conducted in close coordination with the Marine Chart

Division, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The

Program is a major public service of the USPS. Under it, members supply information to the Marine Chart Division of NOS/NOAA

leading to corrections to nautical charts, small craft charts, Coast Pilot publications, and formerly, Small Craft Facilities. They also

supply data on depth surveys, range status, tidal current surveys and geodetic marks. The Aid To Navigation (ATON) Inspection

program allows for damaged or misplaced Aids to be reported. The Adopt-A-Chart sub program provides for individual squadrons

to assume responsibility to keep a chart, or a portion of a chart, in their local boating area up to date and get recognition on new

editions for their work. We have been told the Cooperative Charting Program is recognized as the most effective user-participation

program in all the Federal services.

We found no ATONs out of place but did find several fixed ATONs that were obscured by foliage. These have been reported to the

U.S. Coast Guard, District 1 in New Haven.

Participants included L. to R.: Ken Letendre, AP; Cdr Pat Pabouet, P; P/Lt/C Tom Berlandy, AP; Lt/C Roy Bergeron, AP;

P/Lt/C Don Watson, AP and Nancy Berlandy (not shown). Photo by Nancy Berlandy.

District Christmas Party

The District is once again hosting a Christmas party. This year’s party will be held at the Casa Mia at the Hawthorne, 2421 Berlin

Turnpike, Newington, CT. Our squadron had its Change of Watch there this year and the District Commander was so impressed he

asked if we could make similar arrangements for the District Christmas party. Our Administrative Officer, Jim Salvatore, graciously

complied and although the date is still to be determined, we are trying to secure Saturday, December 16th. The price will be $42 per

person and includes a Cheese and Pizza at Cocktail Hour, two family style appetizers, two family style pasta dishes (these keep

coming out), your individually plated dinner selection of over 16 entree choices and tip.

Come and join us for a great “kick-off” to the Holiday season. For those of you that would enjoy a bit of libation with your meal,

there will be a full cash bar.

More details will be published in next month’s the Bilge Pump. Can’t wait until then? You can read all about it in the Fall issue of

Sounds of 1.

Hartford Power Squadron

the Bilge Pump – September 2017 Page 5 of 6 www.hartfordpowersquadron.com

Fourth Annual Swap Meet

The Fourth Annual Swap Meet was held at Portland Riverside Marina on April 29th. Attendance was less than expected partly due

to forecasted inclement weather. Despite the marina not charging us this year for space rentals, the event brought in less than $100.

Portland Riverside Marina supports our efforts and has enthusiastically invited us back next year for what would hopefully be a

bigger and better attended event.

Based on this year’s experiences, we are considering canceling future Swap Meets. While the event is popular with some squadron

members, and marina patrons people working on their boats, it takes a lot of work to put this event together. To date, all of the

planning, organization and implementation has been done by a small handful of individuals.

More helping hands for all tasks, and better squadron support in the form of attendance and space rentals, could surely turn this into

the event originally envisioned. If there is enough feedback from the membership requesting that we retain the Swap Meet, and

volunteers come forward to fill the needs we have, we could give it another try.

This is an opportunity to make some money for our squadron, enlist new members, and network within the boating community.

Please contact Tim Tyler via email at swapmeet@timtyler.us if you would like to save the Swap Meet. As always, we value your

input.

October Members’ Meeting Will Feature

“A talk by George Gilbert on beautiful New Zealand”

The October 24th Members’ Meeting will feature a talk on beautiful New Zealand by Past District Commander George Gilbert. Come

listen to the adventures of George and his brothers in New Zealand, the last habitable land mass on earth to be populated. A place

where the natives are proud to be called Kiwis and 1/3 of the country is a protected national park. Also home to Auckland, one of the

most affordable cities in the world to live in, where one in three households own a boat and where there is a hill in Hawkes Bay named

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu which lays claim to the longest place name in the world.

The oldest brother of the Gilbert family turning 60 had benefits for all the Gilbert brothers and his good friend Kurt Tomolonius.

George asked his brothers and Kurt to join him on what was to be a motorcycle trip of a life time. Come join us at the Olympia Diner

as George takes us with him on a journey which takes place in January, the "summer" season of New Zealand. Riding 1970’s vintage

Triumph motorcycles we’ll explore New Zealand, sharing two weeks with George’s crew and the "Kiwis" that inhabit this island in

the southern hemisphere. What transpired was a most awesome experience, and we’ll be there to share the adventure with Kurt and the

Gilbert brothers.

United States Power Squadrons®

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September Members’ Meeting Will Feature “The Realities of New England Hurricanes”

The September 26th Members’ Meeting will feature a talk by NOAA representative Glenn Field on New England hurricanes. New England

hurricanes are very different from the kind of hurricanes that you’ve read about or that strike Florida or the Caribbean. You will learn why the

structure is different and thus, how our safety and preparedness rules are different in some ways. People of my generation remember Hurricane

Gloria in 1985 and Hurricane Bob in 1991…and we think those were ‘real’ hurricanes. However, this sense of reality is warped, since it has now

been 62 years since the last major hurricane (Carol) that struck New England. This presentation will take you back to the days of the 1938

Hurricane, Connie, Diane, Carol, etc. and show what a true hurricane really can do!

Glenn Field has been the Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) for the National Weather Service (NWS) Forecast Office in Taunton, MA

since October 1993. As WCM, he is responsible for ensuring that customers of weather forecasts and warnings are able to receive the products

and that they understand what they mean. He gives many presentations to police, fire,

emergency managers, and school groups and always listens to suggestions for improvement of services. Also, he is responsible for coordinating

and implementing new procedures at the NWS, for the quality assurance of products, and is in charge of the SKYWARN volunteer weather

observers program. Also, Glenn works with towns to enable them to become “StormReady,” another National Weather Service community

preparedness program.

Prior to coming to Taunton, Glenn was a Lead Forecaster at the NWS in Raleigh, NC; a

Forecaster at the NWS in Milwaukee, WI; and a Satellite Meteorologist at the National

Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service’s Synoptic Analysis Branch in

Washington, D.C. Glenn holds a M.S. Degree in Meteorology from the University of

Wisconsin – Madison, where he also received his B.S. in both Meteorology and Economics

(the 2 sciences that one can’t predict, he jokes.)

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Place: Olympia Diner, 3413 Berlin Turnpike, Newington, CT

Cost: $15 for dinner with a cash bar - or just come at 7:30 p.m. for the free presentation.

Reservations: Contact Jim Salvatore at jimsal1@comcast.net or 860-346-0680.

Hartford Power Squadron

c/o 12 South Pond Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002-5007

Commander Cdr Patrick A. Pabouet, P 860-528-7700

Executive Officer D/Lt/C Timothy Tyler, SN 860-561-0669

Educational Officer Lt/C Roy L. Bergeron, AP 860-841-8620

Admin. Officer Lt/C James Salvatore, AP 860-346-0680

Secretary D/Lt Clifford W. McKibbin, SN 860-673-1584

Treasurer D/Lt Clifford W. McKibbin, SN 860-673-1584

the Bilge Pump is the official publication of the Hartford Power Squadron.

USPS, United States Power Squadrons, The Ensign, Jet Smart, Boat Smart,

Americas Boating Course are registered trademarks. The Squadron

Boating Course is a service mark of the USPS. Articles and opinions do

not necessarily reflect USPS policy or endorsement unless so designated.

Any article may be reproduced in any USPS publication when credit is

given to both the author and the Bilge Pump.

Edited by: Elaine Cleary 860-561-0669

elainelcleary@gmail.com

Records: Lt Paul Silversmith, AP

Address Service Requested